dried / dehydrated food ingredients....where to get them in the UK..?

[Greg]

Hello All

try as I might...I can't find any stores in the UK that supply Dried / dehydrated food ingredients without them charging an arm and a leg for them..!!
I'd like to create my own various meals to use for long term storage...I watch the americans on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcI7SqVeUhs

and they seem to have any ingredient you could think off from their local stores such as Walmart so why can't we in the UK do the same...its beyond me.

I could just be being stupid..so if anyone know where I could get multiple dried ingredients to create dried meals such as pasta bolognese etc then your advise would be very useful.

thanks
Greg

 

[cranmere]

(Puts tongue firmly in cheek) Possibly because we British are not paranoid? To be fair we also have a much lower chance of things like total destruction through tornadoes or floods than some areas of the US.

On a serious basis you are probably best of getting a dehydrator and a vacuum packer and doing your own. If you keep your eyes open you can pick up vegetables and fruit in season at very low prices and it isn't particularly difficult to do a good job of drying them.

 

[Toddy]

Indian and Chinese and Caribean grocers carry some brilliant stuff,
http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acat...&network=pla&gclid=CICp2szz-b4CFQIewwodbH8AEA
and so do companies like
http://www.communityfoods.co.uk
It's just a matter of making up a list of what you'd like and seeing if you can find a company that stocks much of it so it's one order.
It helps if you can safely store bulk packs though. Dried onion powder in kg bags for instance instead of 50g swartz packs.

atb,
M

 

[cranmere]

Thanks Toddy, I hadn't come across Community Foods.

 

[Greg]

Thanks Toddy...excellent advice

 

[Goatboy]

As well as Toddys great sources you could try where we used to hit prior to heading off on long trips. The Chinese Supermarket. In there you'll find meat, poultry, vegetables, rice, grains, noodles, sauces, mushrooms and a few things I don't know how to categorise all dehydrated and ready to go at a relatively cheap price. It's a bit of an adventure and broadens the palate too. My favourite as a snack was always the pork floss.

 

[PDA1]

Agree with Cranmere - you would get better results by making your favourite Spag Bol at home and dehydrating the results. A domestic dehydrator probably won;t cost more than UKP 50 (USD 50 over here), and will be quite adequate for the purpose. The great thing about this is that you don;t have to make a separate effort to make your trail meals. Whenever you make spag bol, or shepherds pie, or chile, just make 2 or 3 times the amount you would normally make for a meal, eat one and dehydrate the rest.

The problem with the example in your Video was the use of a mixture of raw and cooked dehydrated foodstuffs. The pasta was raw, dried macaroni (which you can get in any food store in the UK I'm sure). Dropping a couple of cups of boiling water on raw pasta and placing it in a insulating cosie for 10-20 minutes won;t cook the pasta. The minute rice she had in the stocks would work, as that has been pre-cooked and then dehydrated.

Check the videos of the Hungry Hammock Hanger (Babelfish5 on youtube) for techniques and recipes. Trailcooking.com is also a good source for ideas and techniques.

BTW, rehydrating the (comparatively) large chunks of meat such as the chicken in the video, takes forever. Meats need to be minced pretty small to rehydrate in a reasonable time.

 

[British Red]

There are many things available Greg - but they need some tracking down.

Try this Ebay seller - everything up to and including yoghurt powder

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/fruishion?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

 

[Greg]

I do enjoy the overwheming amounts of informatipn one can gather from the friendly folk on this forum...thank you everyone

 

[Toddy]

hmmmph, shouldn't have looked at that link I can see an order happening

Thanks BR

M

 

[Greg]

With ref to the video..I did think the same about the pasta...must have been pretty bad when she tried it.. :-D

 

[Greg]

Good ebay seller you found Red..tidy job.

 

[British Red]

hmmmph, shouldn't have looked at that link I can see an order happening

Thanks BR

M

Some good fruity ones here

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Nukraft-Sh...=1104992713&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=2